Free - Beyond Collapse

Monday, May 27, 2013

Memorial Day

Guest Post By L. Neil SmithYesterday, I received in my Inbox, a message from a well-meaning
individual whose mailings I generally enjoy. He sends me many jokes,
funny pictures, and the occasional right wing rant appropriate to one
who clings to his guns and his religion. To me—as one who clings to
his guns and Atlas Shrugged—this makes him a goodguy, a fellow
traveler.

He also occasionally sends me messages—and he is far from the
only one—like the one reproduced in part below. Usually, I let them
pass—he probably doesn't care what I think about intellectual
property rights, or other controversies within the libertarian
movement. But on this occasion, he sent me some ideas I need to talk
about.

Before I start, I should mention that my grandfather died in an
Army camp near Waco, Texas, in 1918, a volunteer for Woodrow Wilson's
"war to end war ... and make the world safe for democracy" who never
got a chance to fight, thanks to what was then called the "Spanish
Influenza".

In 1944, my father, who never got a chance to meet his father, was
a bombardier, a young Army Air Corps lieutenant in the nose of a B-17
who flew something like 29 missions over Europe before being shot down
over Germany. He was taken as a prisoner to Stalag Luft Drei for about
a year, had many horrible adventures both before and after he was
captured, and was rescued, with his fellow inmates, after the D-Day
landing.

After the war, Dad tried civilian life, discovering that some
corporations—United Airlines, for one—are worse than government.
He re-enlisted in the brand new shiny Air Force as a staff sergeant,
and, owing to the Korean War, was then recalled to his commissioned
rank and ultimately assigned to Strategic Air Command. The war in Asia
ended before his training did, so he never had to go "over there", but
he went on to achieve the rank of Major and retired as a 30-year
veteran.

I grew up on and around Air Force bases all over North America
from the time I was five years old until I graduated from high school.
As a kid, I agreed with my father that he was helping to keep America
safe and free from communist aggression, by flying a B-52 with a belly
full of fusion bombs up over the North Pole two or three times a week,
and hanging around at the edge of Soviet airspace, just to let the
badguys know what they were up against. Who the hell knows? Maybe it
worked.

For the most part, I liked life as a military dependent, I liked
growing up within the military community, and I actually pitied the
civilian people I met who weren't a part of that warm world. But as
time went on, Dad began to question a culture that somehow, by mere
coincidence, managed to provide a war—or two—for each and every
generation. And by the time he had retired, in 1965, and had two sons
of military age in the middle of the murderously futile exercise in
Vietnam, he was certain. He never read Smedley Darlington Butler's
War Is A Racket, but he managed to figure out what the score really
was.

I still like and get along with military people, of all branches
of service. They tend to like me, and what I do. I was told once that
my first novel, The Probability Broach was, in popularity aboard our
nuclear submarine fleet, second only to Garfield comics, and I felt
highly complimented. If there had been a Navy R.O.T.C. program when I
was at Colorado State University, my life would have turned out very
differently. Air Force brat or not, I desperately wanted to be a
sub-driver.

But thanks to the Vietnam War, which I successfully avoided, I
never had any illusions. I was not about to sacrifice a minute of my
life to enhance the power of that giant ball of mucus, Lyndon Baines
Johnson, who represented a vastly greater threat to my life, liberty,
and property than Ho Chi Minh or anybody like him ever did. He was the
fat, lying, murderous bastard who accused Barry Goldwater of wanting
to fight a land war in Asia, and stuck us with the 1968 Gun Control
Act.

So with all that in mind, let's consider the Memorial Day claims
my friend sent to me, and I can only hope he'll be my friend after
this.

"It is the veteran, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of
religion."
The truth is that neither the veteran nor the preacher ever gave
us such a right, it is ours, under natural law, the very moment we are
born. It can certainly be suppressed, and has been other places in the
world, and here, as well—ask any Mormon—but this government
hasn't fought a war to defend any American's rights since the
Revolution.

"It is the veteran, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of
the press."
Once again, not so. When the War of 1812 "broke out"—the U.S.
was attempting to bestow the blessings of American life upon Canada
whether Canada wanted them or not—and people objected (New England
nearly seceded over it) people were accused of "sedition", a charge
that should be impossible under the First Amendment, and thrown in
jail.

Later, Abraham Lincoln used the Army to smash the printing presses
of his political opposition and intimidate voters during the 1864
election.

"It is the veteran, not the poet, who has given us freedom of
speech."
Freedom of speech and of the press are natural rights, as well,
which governments in general, and the American government in
particular, have always regarded as a threat. If any single individual
can be thanked for it, that honor belongs to John Peter Zenger
(look him
up). At some point, the establishment press became so corrupt,
concealing or excusing government atrocities, that they became a part
of government, and a new press—the Internet—had to evolve in its
place.

"It is the veteran, not the campus organizer, who has given us
freedom to assemble."
Having once been a "campus organizer" myself, I am well aware how
little we had to do with defending the right to assemble, and how very
badly it was done. But please, don't be ridiculous. Two words: Kent
State.
"It is the veteran, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to
a fair trial."

Actually, to the extent that any human institution is responsible
for the right to a fair trial, it's a thousand years of English
Common
Law.

"It is the veteran, not the politician, Who has given us the right
to vote."
A dubious gift, at best, but it didn't come from any politicians
or veterans. Thank the Greeks, and don't forget the Basques, whose
methods of self-government were consciously imitated by the Founding
Fathers.
I like and admire veterans, My dad was a vet and his dad before
him. But name any war the United States ever fought to defend American
rights.

As I said, the War of 1812 was a failed attempt to conquer Canada.
What legitimate American interests were threatened by the British in
1812?

The Mexican War was declared on us by a crazy military dictator
who couldn't believe he had been humiliated by an Army of farmers and
ranchers. What legitimate American interests were threatened by the
Mexicans?

The War Between the States was fought to consolidate an empire
forged out of the shattered remnants of a confederation of free
republics. Many northern soldiers thought they were fighting slavery,
but the slaves who labored though the war on the Capitol dome might
disagree. The South was tired of paying 80% of the taxes being
collected. What legitimate American interests were threatened by the
South?

The Spanish-American War was an attempt by idiots like William
McKinley and William Randolph Hearst to extend Lincoln's Empire
overseas. What legitimate American interests were threatened by the
Spaniards?
World War I had nothing to do with America, but Americans were
sent "Over There" by the evil Wilson to establish us as a global
power. What legitimate American interests were threatened by the
Kaiser?

Even World War II had nothing to do with us, although it's easy to
understand—and difficult to resist—the impulse to destroy a
monster like Hitler. It's important to remember that Hitler was
created by the incredible stupidity of the victorious allies in the
First World War. The sad thing about it all is that it was not a
conflict between good and evil, but between differing brands of
fascism.
Fascism won.

Korea was an exercise in absolute insanity. I'm glad that the
south remains prosperous and free, but the price for us was far too
high. There was no reason whatever for Americans to be involved on the
peninsula. What legitimate American interests were threatened by North
Korea?
To this day, nobody is absolutely sure what Vietnam was all about.
There's even a movie, Twilight's Last Gleaming, in which an Army
officer hijacks a missile silo to force the President to tell the
world the terrible truth of the thing. We killed 60,000 of our own—
possibly including someone who, later in life, might have found a cure
for cancer or Alzheimer's disease—and two million Vietnamese who
are among the finest, bravest, most admirable human beings on this
planet. What legitimate American interests were threatened by the
Vietnmese?

And now Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and whatever else is to follow.
What legitimate American interests are threatened by any of those
nations?

Nothing about individual rights, property, or American life except
their further destruction by the only government close enough to do us
harm. Both major U.S. parties are controlled by warmongers who want to
keep the government money flowing at any cost—to you and me, that
is. Every legitimate American interest is threatened by the current
government.